Combination-garment.



P. R. STRAUS.

COMBINATION GARMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 22, 1911.

1,024,477. 4 Patented Apr. 23, 1912,.

i x H O Q a "t N :L l H m j 11 1 N v N N 1 a c5 I To all whom it may concern:

' UNITED STATES ENT OFFICE.

IHIIJIP R. STRAUS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 CHARTER 'S'HIRT COMPANY,

OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

I Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 22, 1911. Serial No. 645,403.

Be it known that I, PHILIP R, Srnaus, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, and State of New York, and having a post-ofiioe address at No. 32 Austin street, Newark, New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Combination-Garments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to combination garments, and particularly to such garments for mens wear.

The common practice is for men to wear an outer shirt, which for convenience I shall refer to as an overshirt, over their underclothing, which underclothing consists either of a separate undershirt and drawers, or of an undershirt and drawers formed in a single garment, and which is known as a union suit. It is common experience that the skirt of the ordinary overshirt, which is tucked inside the drawers, is apt to work up so as to become exposed and to sag down over the belt and trousers. This result is particularly noticeable when such garments are worn in athletic sports of any kind, and

persons engaged in such recreation have frequently to rearrange their dress on account of the overshirt working up and sagging down over the belt and trousers. If the underclothing worn with such overshirt consists of a separate shirt and drawers, the drawers being supported only by being drawn more or less tight about the body, tend to work down out of their proper position, and to impede the movements of the wearer and to cause him great discomfort.

Among the objects of my invention are the obviating of the above defects indicated as existing in garments heretofore used by men, by providing a one piece garment, which comprises a combined overshirt and drawers. As a designation for such garment I have coined the word unionshirt, and I shall hereinafter make use of this term in referring to it. With this garment no underclothing is really necessary, and it is quite possible to wear it without underclothing as, for example, when engaged in the pursuit of athletic sports of various kinds. An ordinary undershirt can, of

course, be worn under the unionshirt, if desired, and such attire is perhaps best suited for most occasions.

In the unionshirt it is, ofcourse, essential to provide for more or less flexibility or elasticity of the garment in order that it may accommodate itself to the movements of the wearer. In the ordinary union suit, this result is accomplished by making the entire suit out of elastic goods, such as flexible webbing, or when more elasticity than can be obtained in this manner is desired,

it is secured by providing an inserted band of elastic webbing above the waist of the wearer. In the case of the unionshirt, how- Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

ever, it is impossible to provide such an elastic portion above the waist of the garment because it would not be covered up by the overshirt, as in the case of the union suit, but would be exposed-t0 view. I have found that this ,difliculty can be obviated by inserting a band of flexible webbing below the waist of the garment and across the back thereof in.such position that it forms substantially the upper portion of the seat of the garment. With this arrangement, however, a smaller amount of the seat is available below such elastic material than is the case with union suits, for providing flaps or, other means for securing an open seat, it being necessary to have an open seat in gar-- ments of this sort because it is impossible to lower the drawers without removing the shirt from the body of the wearer. To do away with this difiiculty I have invented a new typeof open seat which makes it possible to provide a sufiicient opening of the garment at the seat, and which does not interfere with the flexibility of the band of webbing or similar flexible material which is interposed between the shirt and the drawers. I have secured this result by dividing the inserted band of elastic webbing, which as I have already stated, forms the upper portion of the seat of the garment,

into two parts overlapping one another at about the middle of the back of the garment, A I

of the webbing on the bias so that they extend downwardly and diverge outwardly toward the sides of the garment. and prefer ably hem or bind the edges of the flexible webbing so formed. As the strain on the webbing is substantially vertical, by making the band in this manner it is possible to make it practically double in the region where it is subjected to the greatest strain, and to make use of its full elasticity and to divide it into two parts without interfering with its functions in any manner.

With the above and related objects in view, my invention consists in the parts, improvements and combinations hereinafter set forth.

lVhile I have illustrated and will describe one preferable form of construction, it is to be understood that my invention may be embodied in other forms and that it. is not limited to the precise construction shown and described, but is as broad as my claims.

In the drawings forming a part of these specifications and in which the same numerals of reference are used uniformly to designate the same parts, Figure 1 is a front view, and Fig: 2 a back view of a combination garment embodying my invention.

Reference numeral 1 is applied to the upper or shirt portion of my unionshirt, the form and construction of which from the waist up is preferably the same as what is usually known as a coat shirt and the drawers are indicated generally by the reference numeral 2. The usual front opening, 3, is provided in the shirt and extends downward to about the crotch of the drawers, where it is preferably terminated. The opening, 3, may be closed by means of buttons and button-holes in the usual manner. The legs of the drawers are indicated at 4, and may be of any convenient length and shape. I prefer and have illustrated drawers of knee length, but this is for convenience of illustration merely, as the drawer legs may be of any preferred length and form.

\Vhen the entire garment is made from the same goods the materials which are used for making mens shirts and are known as shirtings are made use of. If the shirt and drawers portions are made of different materials, any materials adapted respectively for the manufacture of shirts and drawers may be used. As such materials,

for the most part, will not stretch to any considerable extent, provision is made in the back of the garment for securing an elastic connection of the lower or drawer portion to the upper or shirt portion. This elastic connection preferably consists of a band of elastic webbing, 5, which preferably ext-ends across the entire back of the garment from side seam to side seam thereof, and is secured at its upper edge to the lower edge of the shirt portion of the garment and at its lower edge to the material forming the drawers. This band of elastic webbing, 5, is placed a substantial distance be lowthe waist line, XX, of the garment so that it will be covered by the trousers, and will not be exposed to view.

The drawers, 2, are of what is known as the open type, that is to say, there is no closed seam at the crotch, but the crotch is substantially closed by the overlapping flaps, 6, 6, which extend from about the front of the crotch aroundon each side of the crotch and seat, and are fastened by buttons, 7, entering button holes, 8, atthe back. The overlap of such flaps increases substantially from the front, Where it is relatively slight, all the way around to the back where it is greatest. In order to secure a suflicient opening of the seat when the flaps, 6, G, are unbuttoned, I form the upper portion of each of these flaps from the material Qfthe elastic webbing, 5. In order to secure this result the band of elastic webbing, 5, is made up of two portions, 9, 9, which meet at their upper edges at about the middle of the back, and their ends are cut on a downwardly and outwardly extending bias, as shown at 10, 10, the ends so formed overlapping to form a reinforced triangle, 11, of elastic webbing. At the lower edges these overlapping port-ions of the elastic webbing are secured to the material of the drawers and serve to make up a portion of the flaps, 6, 6. With this arrangement it will be apparent that the full elasticity of the band, 5, is preserved and there is no tendency of the elastic band to pull or sag out of shape permanently, whereas if the out were made perpendicular, or nearly so, the band would sag and pull out of shape if the cut edges were unbound and if provided with an unyielding binding it would be deprived of its elasticity. Further the elastic connection between the upper or shirtportion of the garment and the lower or drawers portion of the garment, is the more efficient because it is made double at the part to which the greatest stress is applied.

By providing the overlapping ends 10 of .the vertically flexible webbing 5 with an unyielding binding, extending on the bias as shown and at a considerable angle from the vertical, only a limited stretch can be imparted to the flexible webbing 5, as any pull of the webbing which tends to stretch it in the up and down direction, which is the direction of its greatest flexibility, will have the result of bringing the bias cut and bound ends 10 more nearly into the vertical position, and when the flexible webbing has given a distance suflicient to bring these ends and the binding thereon into a substan tially vertical line, any further stretch is prevented by the resistance of the unyielding binding. The total stretch of the flexi ble webbing 5 being limited in this manner, it is impossible for the Webbing to stretch beyond such limit and therefore the garment will. never become so loose or baggy that this webbing portion can work up above the hem of the trousers.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. A one-piece garment for mens wear comprising an overshirt and a pair of drawers, and elastic means of connection between said over-shirt and drawers atthe back thereof, and forming a portion of the seat of the garment, said drawers being open in the crotch and comprising flaps overlapping one another at the crotch and at the rear, said flaps being made up inpart of the elastic connecting means between the This specification signed this 18th day I of August 1911.

PHILIP R. STRAUS.

Witnesses:

HERBERT H. DYKE, DANIEL B. SMITH. 

